Sports Nutrition and Supplements

Physical and Occupational Therapy

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Occupational therapy tends to focus on evaluating and improving a person’s functional abilities. An occupational therapist often does not directly treat a person’s injury using techniques such as manual therapy or acupuncture therapy but more commonly helps a person optimize their independence and their ability to accomplish their daily activities following an injury or in situations of physical impairment. Occupational therapists often will directly treat injuries, but more even often occupational therapy focuses more on improving life skills and incorporating adaptive tools at times customized by the therapist. In some parts of the world occupational therapists utilize practices such as use of ultrasound in injury rehabilitation, much like a physical therapist does.

The physical therapy profession (also called ‘physiotherapy’ in many parts of the world) tends to be more focused on evaluating and diagnosing movement dysfunctions as well as treating a person’s injury itself. While an occupational therapist will often also do diagnosis, the physical therapist will be more likely to diagnose and treat the physical source of the problem; the injured tissues and structures.